Nice one Warmtoast! Thinking about the question today, a spin on it is 'what was the first jet to cross the Atlantic by any means'. I'd guess it was Bell YP-59 42-108773 which was shipped ( literally ) to the UK in September 1943. First production Meteor F.Mk.1 EE210 went westwards in exchange early the next year, presumably also in the hold of a ship.